MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Memphis Soul Music Festival (MSMF) is postponing its inaugural fundraising event planned for June 13 at Shelby Farms, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and to adhere to social distancing mandates.
MSMF Founder and CEO of SisterReach, Cherisse Scott, has decided to take part of the funding earmarked for national recording artists’ compensation and use it to partner with churches and organizations to support the practical needs of Memphis families. Churches and organizations can apply on the SisterReach website (www.sisterreach.org) April 8th – 15th. The nonprofit announced the funding opportunity in a Facebook live video Wednesday.
“Like so many others who planned largescale public events this year, we come to this conclusion with heavy hearts. But the threat of COVID-19 transmission is a truth we cannot ignore and that makes this festival, as planned, impossible and dangerous. Such plans are neither realistic nor safe for our participants or our artists. Nevertheless, we have an amazing opportunity to use our resources to help support some of the immediate needs Memphians have like housing, food, and utility funding assistance. Many of our local churches have been doing this work already. We intend to add some of our resources to these sustained efforts and help expand their capacity,” said Cherisse Scott.
SisterReach will relaunch the festival in 2021. Participants can request a refund on their Eventbrite site.
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